| Hotel Rwanda |
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| Friday, 04 February 2005 00:00 | |||
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Tonight was the first time in my life that I felt pure shame for being from the western world and being a citizen of Canada, a member of the United Nations. Rick and I went to see the movie, Hotel Rwanda at the local theatre and we both wept out of shame for what we, the western, "so-called-civilization" did to the country of Rwanda in 1994. No, Rick and I weren't the people personally responsible for turning our backs on a nation in desperate need of help, but we are part of the overall society that ignored them. In 1994, Rwanda experienced a mass genocide of 800,000 of their people in 100 days, which the United Nations knew was happening but chose to turn their backs on. In fact it was a Canadian soldier, Romeo Dallaire, who was assigned to command the UN Peace Keepers placed there prior to the horror and he was made powerless by the governing UN Council and ordered to vacate the country when the uprising first began.
Earlier this week, we watched: Shake Hands With The Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire, a shortened version of the 2004 award-winning Canadian documentary about his ordeal there. It was an interesting account of how he chose to stay in the country that needed his help with only 350 other soldiers to help him because the UN ordered all the others to leave. We felt compassion for him and his efforts and sheer disgust at the powers that pulled out, the US being but one of them. And the reason nothing was done was simply because Rwandans are black Africans and no one cared. (No doubt because their lack of oil also plays a part!) I only hope that in my lifetime, or at least Makai's, the people of this world will finally come together realizing that we are all connected, all part of the same race...we are all human. When you peel off our skin and remove our eyeballs, we are all the same underneath. We need to respect each other and help each other instead of hurting and killing each other. It is when that day comes that we will truly find heaven on earth! In the meantime, movies like Hotel Rwanda can be an invaluable service to teach us some important lessons. As sad as it may be, I recommend it folks!
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